Colin Kapernick kneels during the National Anthem of a preseason game against the Chargers (Photo Credit Chris Carlson/AP)

Hey everyone this site is still alive! I have been really busy with grad school and life that I didn’t keep a consistent writing routine for almost two years. Since my last writing piece Kaepernick began his anthem protest that has spread through the NFL since. It was perfect timing for this blog and I just never had the time and motivation to write anything up. I have written plenty of Facebook posts over that time though. I think I will go digging for those and post them up here eventually.

Here is the excerpt from the CNN article above with the racist anti-black lyrics of the Third Stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner:

The Star-Spangled Banner” was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 about the American victory at the Battle of Fort McHenry. We only sing the first verse, but Key penned three more. This is the third verse:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionA home and a Country should leave us no more?Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The mere mention of “slave” is not entirely remarkable; slavery was alive and well in the United States in 1814. Key himself owned slaves, was an anti-abolitionist and once called his African brethren “a distinct and inferior race of people.” Some interpretationsof these lyrics contend Key was, in fact, taking pleasure in the deaths of freed black slaves who had fought with the British against the United States In order to bolster their numbers, British forces offered slaves freedom in British territories in return for joining their cause. These black recruits formed the Colonial Marines and were looked down upon by people like Key, who saw their actions as treasonous. As an anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner” has never been a unanimous fit. Since it was officially designated as the national anthem in 1931, Americans have debated the suitability of its militaristic lyrics and difficult tune. (Some have offered up “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” as alternatives.)